Cannot create vSAN ESA cluster - Error seen: "vSphere lifecycle manager (vLCM) configuration".

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

• When trying to create a vSAN ESA cluster on vCenter by selecting the Cluster in the inventory > Configure > vSAN > Services, selecting the desired vSAN configuration and clicking "Configure", when the wizard is opened, the option "vSAN ESA" is greyed out and the messages shown below are seen:
  • "Based on the prechecks your hardware compatibility or cluster configuration is not eligible for vSAN ESA".
  • In the "Compatibility checks", it's seen:
    • "vSphere lifecycle manager (vLCM) configuration" - "vLCM is the only supported lifecycle management protocol for vSAN ESA, which replaces VUM(vSphere Update Manager)".

Environment

VMware vSAN 7.0.x.

VMware vSAN 8.0.x.

Cause

vLCM is the only supported lifecycle management protocol for vSAN ESA.

Resolution

Migrate to vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM), enabling vLCM per cluster and configure a cluster image.

To proceed with this migration, please follow the instructions on the "Configure vLCM" section of Introducing vSphere Lifecycle Management (vLCM).

 

Possible Impact:

• Clusters managed by SDDC Manager should NOT be transitioned from vSphere Lifecycle Manager Baselines (VUM) to vSphere Lifecycle Manager Images (vLCM) directly via vCenter UI / APIs.
• If a user wants a vLCM cluster, either create a new vLCM based Workload Domain and create a vLCM cluster or create a new cluster in already existing vLCM based Workload Domain from SDDC Manager.
• Reference: Transition from vSphere Lifecycle Manager Baselines to vSphere Lifecycle Manager Images is not supported with VMware Cloud Foundation.

Additional Information